ICAER 2017: 6th International Conference on Advances in Energy Research 2017 IIT Bombay Mumbai, India, December 12-14, 2017

The global energy concerns of depleting fossil fuels and climate change puts forward great challenges for the researchers. The need is to pause, take stock of current status in research and development in energy and have brainstorming sessions to set guidelines for the future path.

Department of Energy Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay announces the 6^thInternational Conference on "Advances in Energy Research" to provide an excellent platform to know, exchange new ideas, discuss new developments and finally look at the challenges ahead.

List of Topics

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) technologies

One of the renewable energy technologies being scaled up at a rapid rate is solar photovoltaics. Despite the increased deployment of silicon-based solar cells, efforts to increase the conversion efficiency, reduce materials usage, manufacturing complexity and cost, and use of novel materials like perovskites, etc. are in progress. Keywords: Silicon PV materials and devices, Perovskite, organic and dye-sensitized solar cells, Thin film PV solar cells, Reliability and performance of PV modules, fundamental studies on materials and systems modeling of PV cells.

Energy Storage and Conversion

Owing to the intermittent nature of renewable energy technologies, especially wind and solar, there is an increased focus on energy storage methods to overcome this problem, with electrochemical storage being the front-runner. On-board hydrogen production and use through fuel cells is another area with revived importance. Redox Flow batteries are being considered for large scale energy storage. Keywords: Electrode materials and components for batteries and fuel cells (catalysts, membranes, etc.), Li-batteries and beyond Li-ion batteries, battery management systems, safety and reliability, modeling, design and simulation (electrode/electrolyte interface phenomena, novel materials, electrode poisoning, hydrogen desorption mechanism, etc.).

Energy Systems – Policy/Economics/Optimization/Efficiency/Management

As one might observe, the energy systems used today consist of a variety of resources (fossil and renewable), varying scale of technologies (small-scale roof-top PV to large centralized thermal power plants), T&D infrastructure, and variety of end-use applications. The operation and economics of such a large system is affected by policies and regulations, which in turn depend on well-informed modeling and optimization studies that look at efficient energy management. Keywords: Policy and Economics, Efficiency & Optimization, Systems Modeling & analysis, energy management.

Renewable Energy (RE) Technologies (Solar thermal, Wind, etc.)

Apart from solar PV, solar thermal and wind energy are also finding increased deployment for industrial heat and power generation applications, respectively. The intermittency for the solar thermal technologies is expected to be overcome by using thermal energy storage. Owing to its long coastline and some perennial rivers, other sources of renewable energy like small-scale hydro, tidal, etc. are also receiving some attention. Nuclear energy, despite its small contribution to the total power generation, is vital for the nation’s growth. Energy efficiency in buildings is also of increased importance due to rapid increase in growth of urban population and development of smart cities. This sub-theme, hence, seeks to address the opportunities and challenges in all the afore-mentioned areas. Keywords: Concentrated solar thermal technologies, materials, modeling and design for thermal energy storage (sensible, latent heat, thermochemical) systems, Wind, other RE systems like tidal, small-hydro, etc., Nuclear, Energy & Buildings.

IC Engines/Biofuels/Conventional fuels (Coal, Oil, & Gas), Nuclear & Non-conventional energy resources

Owing to the depleting fossil resources, there is an interest in the use of biofuels. However, using them in conventional IC engines poses challenges that are being addressed. On the other hand, processes like gasification and pyrolysis are receiving attention for small-scale use of waste biomass, etc. Carbon capture and sequestration is another area that can possibly provide a bridge between the use of conventional and biofuels. Thus, this theme considers all these aspects in a changing energy scenario. Keywords: Combustion, Gasification, Pyrolysis, Biofuels (biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas), IC engines, CO2 capture and sequestration, Enhanced oil recovery (EOR), shale gas, natural gas hydrates, xTL technologies, Utilization of low rank coals, Waste to Energy technologies, Nuclear Energy.

Power Electronics & Systems and Microgrids

Microgrids are envisaged to enable the integration of renewable generation, distributed generation, energy storage, transmission, distribution and demand management. Though microgrids offer advantages like decentralized operation, higher operational efficiency, more efficient demand management, etc., they also possess numerous challenges and opportunities. Keywords: Microgrids (Architecture, Topologies, Control, power quality and protection, energy management), Smart grids, power systems, optimization in integration of renewables, DSM.

Industry experience in energy innovations

This special track is dedicated to industry participants that research and develop the advancement in the energy sector and contribute to the innovation in any energy related area. In this inaugural track we offer an opportunity for participants from industry to present flash oral presentations of their work in a 10 minute time slot. Keywords: Industry, Energy Systems, Innovation.

Submission Guidelines

• All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference.

• Please submit the full paper, in the prescribed template, by uploading the paper on the easychair account. The easy chair link is available avaiable on the conference website: ICAER 2017

• Please DO NOT send the full paper by email. The papers sent by email will not be considered.

• The authors are requested to strictly follow and adhere to the prescribed template and page restrictions.

• Full paper needs to be submitted for presenting at the conference as an oral or poster presentation. Oral/ poster presentation will not be allowed without submission of full paper.

• Each paper will be peer-reviewed by experts in the field for originality, contribution and soundness.

• The page limit for the full paper is 6 pages in the provided template format.

• The authors may choose to publish the paper for publication in international journals, the decision whether to publish the full paper in journals after peer review is left to the discretion of the authors.

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to ...

Prof. Suneet Singh | Prof. Venkatasailanathan R

Organising Secretary

Department of Energy Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India

icaer[@]iitb.ac.in